Kejriwal prod for fresh Delhi election

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

New Delhi, July 21: Arvind Kejriwal and his MLAs met lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung today and returned hopeful that Delhi might be headed for fresh elections.

“Met LG. Had good discussions. He will now invite BJP for discussions. If BJP claims they can form govt, LG will ask them to show nos. We told him that delay in dissolving assembly was encouraging horse-trading,” he tweeted.

Aam Aadmi Party insiders claimed Jung had hinted that polls seemed the only way out as the BJP appeared jittery about forming government with support from Congress rebels.

Officially, the BJP has indicated that it is open to fresh elections as well. Party sources said the leadership looked to be tilting to this option.

The BJP fears that cobbling together a majority by splitting parties would make the Centre vulnerable to allegations of horse-trading.

“We are open to government formation as well as fresh elections. But we have to take care that the image of the party and Narendra Modi is not tarnished,” a BJP leader said.

If the BJP backs out of government formation, much of the credit would go to the AAP as it has been relentlessly flagging the issue.

The BJP was learnt to have virtually made up its mind to form the government with support from five of eight Congress MLAs who were wary of facing another election. These five, along with one Independent and the lone JD(U) MLA, were tipped to form a separate group and support the BJP.

The Congress has also swung into action. On Saturday, it paraded its MLAs to trash any buzz about a rebellion. The AAP today used this to tell Jung the BJP did not have the numbers to form the government.

House shift

Kejriwal is likely to vacate the Tilak Road residence by month-end and move back to his Kaushambi home, sources said. The party will, however, retain its two-storey Hanuman Road office, which will double as his residence.

Kejriwal had retained his chief ministerial home on the ground that moving out would affect his daughter’s performance in the Class XII board exams.